A method for creating private and anonymous digital territories using attribute-based credential technologies

Abstract

In this paper, the privacy aspect of the Digital Territory concept is considered within the general domain of Ambience Intelligence. Digital Territories (or DTs for short) are digital, artificial entities that are dynamically created by their owners as they move about in a physical space. In brief, a Digital Territory is defined as a subset of physical space which is created by some technological means. It has semipermeable boundaries and properties defined by its owners. An example of a Digital Territory is the range defined by a WiFi access point or the access range of a bluetooth device. Since Digital Territories are created in the open space, a major issue that arises during their creation and lifetime is their security and privacy, in terms of what entities can have access to them and with which access rights. In this work a generic privacy preserving architecture is proposed for DTs of any kind based on a new Privacy Enhancing Technology, the Privacy-ABCs.